Birthday Presents
by Sunlight through Leaves
Summary: Kakairu When Kakashi tries to get back at Iruka for making him help with his class by making him babysit one of the ninken puppies for a couple of weeks, he gets more than he bargained for.
1. Trials

Along with giving me the plot bunny for Touchstone, *SumiHatake gave me several other plot bunnies that I've been meaning to work on. This, technically is one of them, though I've taken a drastic step away from what she originally wrote (huge, enormous drastic step).

Next chapter forthcoming, soon, I hope.

Let me know what you think!

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kakashi curled tighter underneath the shuriken-patterned comforter and folded the pillow over his head with an unintelligible grumble. It was a futile effort, but he had to try something to block out the low growls and high-pitched barks that were echoing down the hall from his living room. After several minutes of slipping in and out of sleep, he finally succumbed to the inevitable and stalked down the hall to figure out what the racket was.

Normally, he was willing to put up with the antics of his ninken, but after the trials of the past three weeks, he was in no mood for it.

_"What happened here?" Tsunade planted both of her hands on her hips, ignoring the kids who were slinking around behind her. One of the young girls still had both her hands over her mouth._

"_Maa, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi sheepishly rubbed his hand across the back of his hair, clearly ignoring the hands that were fisted in the front of his shirt and the person who had obviously been screaming at him just seconds before Tsunade had arrived. "Nothing serious, just a minor accident."_

"_Minor?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow, glad that she got it out before the other person, who looked in danger of exploding. "Iruka-san has two kunai sticking out of his shoulder. Isn't this class still supposed to be using dull blades?"_

"_Yes." The word was ground out between clenched teeth as Iruka tightened his grip on Kakashi's shirt. "They are."_

"_Kakashi? Is there some reasonable explanation for this?"_

"_Reasonable?!" Iruka spluttered, "How could there possibly…mmmph!" Kakashi clapped a gloved hand over the chuunin-sensei's mouth._

"_Now, now, Iruka-sensei, you remember our discussion." The dark eyes narrowed over the edge of his thumb, and Tsunade saw all of the kids take a step backwards at the murderous intent coming from their teacher. "We were simply having a conversation between two educational professionals about the merits of increasing the difficulty of the classes before the students are ready to force the learning curve."_

_The look of absolute disbelief on Iruka's face was priceless._

"_This," Tsunade gestured to the pointed implements imbedded in Iruka's back, "Doesn't look like a simple conversation."_

"_Maaa, well, we weren't able to come to an agreement, so I figured a demonstration was in order." Kakashi yelped and pulled his hand away from Iruka's mouth. Tsunade tried to hide a chuckle. Though Iruka typically acted like a straight-laced sensei, she'd seen him pull off a couple of convoluted pranks to give both his class and fellow chuunin in the mission room a kick in the ass to get them working harder. She'd put money on the fact that he'd just bitten Kakashi's hand._

_The chuunin released Kakashi's shirt and twisted around to rip the kunai out of his shoulder. "He replaced a couple of the dummy kunai with real ones. Which Tsuki happened to pick up."_

_The little girl who'd had her hands over her mouth let out a choked cry, "I didn't _mean _to, Iruka-sensei!"_

_The look Iruka gave to Kakashi probably could have frozen lava as he walked over and knelt by his student. Tsuki looked like she was going to start crying at any moment._

_Tsunade rolled her eyes; jounin were such children sometimes. She knew that the two had fought before – someone had told her about the spat at the meeting before the chuunin exam. Apparently something of an animosity had festered between the two shinobi, and she knew they needed to put a stop to it. "Alright, alright. Kakashi, you're going to help Iruka with his class. That means that you're going to do anything, and I mean _anything _that he needs you to do. Got it?"_

Kakashi groaned and rubbed his lower back, which tweaked with every movement thanks to the hours of practicing taijutsu techniques with twenty mini-nin. He seriously had no idea how Iruka managed to do this all day, every day.

But his admiration for the chuunin's ability to train these hellions paled in comparison to his desire to beat the snot out of the other man for putting him through this torture. So what if Tsunade had ordered it, that didn't mean Iruka needed to pick the absolute worst things for him to help with. And since Iruka wasn't readily available, he might just take it out on his overly noisy dogs who had disturbed his first full night of sleep since Tsunade had given him this damn assignment.

All murderous thoughts evaporated when he turned the corner into his living room. Pakkun was lying on the floor, looking overly irritated and like he just woke up, and a ball of black and white fluff was crouched next to him, her nose on the ground by his face and her butt and tail arched towards the ceiling. Pakkun snapped his jaws at her, but it was pretty ineffective considering she was almost bigger than he was. "Bull!" Pakkun barked.

"Yeah, sorry," The monster of the dog padded into the room from the kitchen, "I took my eyes off her for a second." Bull snagged the little puppy by the scruff of her neck and dropped her onto the couch. She landed on her back, wiggled around for a few minutes before sliding off the cushions and onto the floor. She rolled over onto her feet and promptly trotted back over to Pakkun's side.

Kakashi caught her around the belly, his fingers sinking into the soft fur as he picked her up. He sat down on the couch, and she squirmed around a little, but finally settled down with her back on his legs, paws folded over her chest and mis-matched eyes staring up to meet his. "Who are you?"

Pakkun yawned hugely, clearly deciding that he wasn't going to get any more sleep and hopped up onto the coffee table. "Her name's Kioko; she's a new pup in the clan. And she has way too much energy for her own good."

The ninken's clan was enormous; Kakashi had only met a few of them besides the eight that were bonded to him, and most of those were the ones who had run with his father. Even though he knew that they usually had one or two litters a year in the clan, he'd never met any of the pups when they were this young.

Kioko opened her mouth and yawned in his face.

"So, why's she here?"

"The clan's doing some huge hunt, and everyone's busy with it." Pakkun paused as he scratched at the back of his ear. "'Cept us."

Kakashi's eye folded upwards as he grinned at the pug. "You guys are babysitters?"

Pakkun glared at him, "Laugh it up; you're going to have to put up with her too."

The deep cawing of one of the village's messenger birds drew both of their attentions out the window.

"Mission?" Pakkun guessed, and Kakashi nodded. The pug turned his glare to Kioko, who was happily trying to bite her tail from her position on her back in Kakashi's lap. "Well, what're we gonna do with her?"

Both Bull and Pakkun took steps back at the decidedly evil expression that descended on Kakashi's face. "It's payback time."

OOOOOOOOOO

"Ano-sa, Iruka-sensei?"

"Yeah?" Iruka had just turned away from the board to answer the kid's question when a blast of leaves filled the space in his classroom between where he was standing and the front row of desks. "Uh… Can I help you, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi smiled brightly, "Yes, you can."

Iruka yelped as a squirming puppy was deposited into his hands, but the jounin vanished before he could voice any protest. "Wha…?"

A note was pressed in between his hand and the puppy's fur. It said simply: 'Thanks for looking after her. Her name's Kioko. Be back in two weeks."

"WHAT?!" Iruka shrieked.

OOOOOOOOO

He'd had to dismiss his class early since they officially ceased to pay any attention to him when an adorable puppy was romping around the classroom. Kioko was tucked up under his arm, her tail thwapping back and forth against the small of his back and her mouth open, tongue hanging out of the side of it.

"So I guess you don't speak, eh?" Iruka looked down as the black ears turned towards him, and Kioko looked up at him, the white patches above her blue and black eyes raising towards her ears, almost in confusion. "Guess not." She barked happily at him, her tail swinging faster.

He shoved the door open with his shoulder and gently set the puppy down onto the floor of his apartment. She immediately took off at a thousand miles a minute, running race tracks around his couch, down the hall, up and over his bed – with a couple of extra tries to make it up onto the bed each time – back up the hall, and completed with a lot of skidding on the linoleum floor of the kitchen before she sprinted back into the living room again. Iruka gapped at the streak of black and white and then shrugged. Years of dealing with children had taught him that young creatures would always tire themselves out eventually.

But at ten, when Kioko had knocked over his lesson plan for the third time, and he had pushed her off the coffee table with a strict 'No!' for the fourth time – he'd lucked out that one of those times he'd managed to catch her before she destroyed anything – Iruka started to wonder how he was going to survive another thirteen days with this puppy.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Oooof!" Iruka gasped for air as Kioko leapt up onto the bed and landed with her front paws squarely on his stomach. Her back paws were somewhere that was most decidedly worse, and he shoved her off, folding over the injured part of his anatomy and trying to ignore the tears gathering in the corner of her eyes.

Kioko dropped to her haunches on the edge of the bed and let out a soft whine. Iruka finally managed to gasp enough air into his lungs to straighten up. "What's wrong?" The little pup whined at him again, her ears folding back to her head. She looked decidedly uncomfortable. "Uh," Iruka rubbed his hand over his eyes. "You need to go out."

Through his sleep blurred eyes, he almost would have sworn that she nodded.

Iruka shoved his hands up into his armpits. It was absolutely freezing out here! Kioko had been sniffing around at the ground for a good fifteen minutes, and at 2 in the morning, Iruka's short patience was wearing thin. "Just go already!" Kioko promptly looked up from what she'd been doing and galumphed back over to him. "No, no don't come over…" He groaned, bent over and put his hands under her butt, scooting her back over towards the tree she was so interested in. "Please, just go to the bathroom."

OOOOOOOOOO

Iruka buried his face in his pillow as Kioko ran her third racetrack of the morning. It had gotten worse this particular morning, since she'd decided to bank off his butt every time she came through. He raised his head far enough to look at the clock. It wasn't even 5 yet.

And it had only been two days.

OOOOOOOOOO

All four of his pillows from his couch had been ripped open at the seam and the stuffing lay in small pathetic piles all over the floor. Kioko looked up innocently from where she lay in the middle of the massacre, a piece of pale fuzz hanging from the corner of her mouth.

Iruka dug his fingers into his hair, stalked into the bedroom and screamed.

OOOOOOOOOO

8 days into the experience, Iruka returned from a field exercise with his class that had left him with several wrenched muscles and covered from head to toe in the viscous, noxious smelling muck from the swamp in training area 8. He'd literally fallen into one of the deeper pools in an attempt to keep three of his students from falling in themselves. Kioko was, thankfully, napping in his now puppy-proofed living room, so he eased by her and crawled into the bathtub.

Within moments, he heard the soft click of claws on the tile and opened his eyes a slit to look at Kioko, who had hung her head over the edge of the tub and nudged at the water with her nose. It occurred to Iruka that she might have never seen this much standing water before, and she jumped back in surprise when her nose sank below the water.

He couldn't help but chuckle as Kioko approached the lip of the tub again and licked tentatively at the water. "It's just water, silly." Iruka flicked drops of water at her, laughing out loud when she tried to snap at it when it hit her in the face. Kioko put her feet up on the edge of the tub and licked at his fingers, which he pulled back so he could continue to flick water at her. She looked down at the water when he put his hand back under it, and Iruka watched the white patches above her eyes draw together, almost as if she was confused.

The next thing he knew, she'd jumped her hind paws up onto the lip and was sliding in with him, accompanied by much flailing.

Iruka gasped as he was soaked with water, glad that he had managed to pull back his feet in time to avoid getting scratched. Kioko looked completely shocked. She was wet up to her neck; her fur matted down along her body and sticking out like a mane around her face.

He reached out and bopped her on the nose to dispel her shock and she snapped back at him, growling playfully. When he pulled his hand back, as if scandalized, she barked at him and leapt forward, planting her feet on his chest and licking happily at his face. Iruka laughed, digging his fingers into the fur on her head and scratching vigorously. Her tail sprayed water all over as she wagged it frenetically.

OOOOOOOOO

Kioko still had incredible bouts of energy, but it seemed a little bit easier to deal with it. She was, after all, a truly adorable puppy, and the more time Iruka spent with her, the less it felt like a chore to baby-sit Kakashi's dog. He looked like hell, though, since he was only getting about four hours of sleep a night – the little pup just didn't seem to need rest.

OOOOOOOOO

On the 14th morning, Iruka woke-up long before his alarm clock, but definitely after Kioko typically woke him up. The weight on his shoulder turned out to be Kioko's head. She was wedged up against his back and was snoring in his ear.

OOOOOOOOO

Kakashi landed softly on the steps leading up to the Hokage's tower. Even though he knew it was a horrible thing to do, he was desperately hoping that Kioko had put Iruka through a hell comparable to what he'd gone through with those monsters that they called kids.

As he walked into the mission room, he had to admit that Iruka looked like he was lacking on sleep. As the chuunin accepted a mission report from one of the people ahead of him and yawned hugely in the middle of telling the person that they'd done a good job. The dark circles under his eyes confirmed that.

"Iruka-sensei." He smiled brightly down at the other man.

"Kakashi-sensei." Iruka stifled a yawn and reached out to take Kakashi's report.

"Maa, thanks for watching Kioko-chan for me." Kakashi's smile widened when Iruka's look turned a little dark. "Did you have fun?" He couldn't resist poking him a little bit.

The dark look vanished, and Iruka smiled tiredly, "Actually, yes, I did."

"Really?...I mean, that's great." Kakashi took a step backwards, trying to figure out where this plan had gone wrong. Shouldn't Iruka be yelling at him for being an ass?

"She's at my apartment; I can go get her for you when my shift's over, if you like." Iruka had turned away from him and was shuffling through the stack of mission reports that had been sitting on the edge of the desk.

"O..okay." Kakashi just walked away, unable to come up with any intelligent response. Okay, so he knew he was being childish, but he'd really wanted Iruka to suffer the way he'd suffered.

OOOOOOOOO

"So, does she talk?" Kakashi asked as he watched the fur ball do loops around his living room, coughing to hide a snort of laughter when she bounced off one of the legs of the coffee table. She skidded to a halt in the center of the room and plopped down facing the door. Kakashi was almost certain she was waiting for someone.

Pakkun shook his head, "Nah, she's got a different way of communicating."

"And that is?" Kakashi prompted when Pakkun seemed disinclined to elaborate.

"Well, it's…"

Pakkun never got a chance to finish because Kioko fired across the room and vaulted into his lap.

He was standing in the doorway of a bathroom that wasn't his own and…Iruka? The chuunin's head was titled back against the wall, and his eyes were closed. Kakashi walked over towards the edge of the tub, dipping his hand into the warm water. As his fingers touched the water, Iruka's eyes opened, but the chuunin didn't seem at all startled to see him. He smiled softly and flicked water at Kakashi's face, and Kakashi shook his head in surprise when the water splattered across his cheeks and nose. He wasn't wearing his mask. Kakashi leaned over the tub and tried to grab at Iruka's hand, but the other man pulled his hand away and continued to spray him with water. Snarling in irritation, he leaned farther over and felt his hand slip off the edge of the tub.

He shook the water out of his hair and then looked up from where he was kneeling between Iruka's legs. The chuunin reached out and tapped him gently on the nose, and he tried to snatch at his hand. When Iruka pulled back, he pushed forward, putting his hands on either side of the other man's waist and nuzzling up against Iruka's face and licking his face. Iruka's fingers wound into his hair, pulling his head closer.

Kakashi opened his eyes, and he was back in his living room, with Kioko in his lap, staring up at him.

"She, uh, uses memories. When she wants to communicate, she uses memories to do it." Pakkun finished. "But you probably just figured that out."

Kakashi swallowed hard and shifted, trying to forget the feeling of the chuunin's - inaked/i - body. Luckily, Kioko chose that exact moment to leap off his lap, her paws nailing him squarely in the balls and immediately diffusing the….growing…problem.

_Oh, this was so not good._

OOOOOOOOO

Comment please ^^


	2. Accusations

New chapter, finally, sorry about the wait!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Ano-sa, ano-sa, Sakura-chan?" Naruto skidded into step beside her, "After training today, do you want to…"

"Eh, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura interrupted him like she hadn't even realized he was talking. "He's here…before us?" Both of them stopped at the end of the bridge and gaped at their perpetually-tardy teacher. "Why on earth…?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kakashi stared down at the same page that he'd opened to when he'd gotten there two hours earlier. The truth was that Kakashi was doing everything to avoid being at home.

He was being tormented.

When Kioko was awake, she passed memories to him almost every five minutes. Not about hunger or boredom, but Iruka, always Iruka.

This morning he'd woken up spooned around the dark-haired chuunin, his face nestled into the side of Iruka's neck. After a moment of utter confusion, the memory had dissolved and he had been left holding empty air. He'd thrown his pillow over his head with an irritated groan, but only after he'd glared down at the mess of black and white fur sprawled belly-up on his feet. Kioko's mouth had been open in a huge smile, her tongue hanging out the corner of her mouth.

She seemed completely unabashed at sharing any and every memory she had of Iruka from the short time he'd left her in the other man's company, but what he just couldn't understand was _why_. If she could communicate using memories, then why didn't she send him thoughts of eating when she was hungry, or anything else? At least her messages would make more sense.

He'd been trying to sort it all out since he'd arrived at the bridge this morning.

"He was not!" Naruto shouted suddenly, interrupting his thoughts.

Sakura was edging closer and closer to Sasuke, who had arrived while he was thinking. "Na-ru-to! He even told you himself that he used to prank people – you told us that last week when you were trying to make us believe that dying the grass around the hokage tower pink was a good idea." Sakura shouted.

"Hn."

"Iruka-sensei is a good person!" Naruto snapped at Sasuke.

The Uchiha boy rolled his eyes, "That doesn't mean he wasn't a prankster when he was younger."

Kakashi's entire train of thought derailed at that one sentence. Was it possible that the chuunin was…? He shoved Icha Icha into his weapon pouch; well, he was not going to give Iruka the satisfaction of knowing that the whole thing was really pissing him off.

OOOOOOOOO

The soft snoring echoed from the end of his bed, and Kakashi rolled his eyes. At least she was sleeping; it meant that he might not get jarred out of his sleep by unwanted visions of a certain chuunin who would remain nameless – Kakashi could almost swear that all he had to do was think the other man's name, and Kioko's tail would start swinging back and forth.

And he would only have seconds to prepare for another onslaught of images.

Sleep came slowly, but eventually his eyes slid closed, and he gave into the warm, welcoming embrace of his pillow.

He sprawled out across the bed, stretching out a long arm towards the opposite side, only to encounter something blocking his way. He snarled something unintelligible at the warm mass, put his hand in the general center of it and pushed.

Strong fingers spread out across the palm of his hand and pushed back with almost as much force as he'd used.

_What the…_ Kioko didn't have fingers and as far as he knew, she was the only one sharing his bed with him.

A soft, irritated voice spoke up from the other side of the bed, "Knock it off, Kioko. I just let you out."

_God damnit!_ Kakashi propped himself up on his elbow and glared down at the unknowing chuunin, wanting to shove the unwelcome visitor out of his bed – nevermind that, technically, it wasn't his bed anymore. After a minute of wishing death and destruction on the other man, he lay back down. He was tired and just generally aggravated, and he was willing to spend the rest of the night in Kioko's memory as long as he got to sleep.

The bed shifted as Iruka rolled over and threw his arm around Kakashi's waist; his fingers toying with the short hairs that trailed down his lower abdomen. "Hmmm…fuzzy."

_Oh, that does it._

OOOOOOOOO

Something was wrong, but Iruka just couldn't quite put his finger on it. The mattress on either side of him dipped in places where his body wasn't, but his brain was too sleep-fogged to figure it out. After a moment of puzzling, he slowly peeled his eyes open and could just make out a dark figure looming over him.

He made a desperate lunge for one of the kunai beside his bed, squinting as the overhead light came on.

Kakashi was crouched over him; his one visible eye narrowed in irritation. "Alright, you got me back for dumping Kioko on you, but enough is enough. If I have to see one more image of you getting dressed or bathing or sleeping or…."

Iruka's brows knitted together, "What the HELL are you talking about?!!?"

Kakashi stopped mid-sentence and gaped at him. "Maa…Nani?"

"I said," Iruka ground the words out, shoved the blankets at Kakashi and slid out of the bed, putting as much distance between himself and the other man. And, just for good measure, pointed the kunai at the jounin who'd invaded his bedroom. "What the hell are you talking about?" There was a short pause as Iruka processed what Kakashi'd said. "And what do you mean that you've seen me bathing?!"

Iruka glared at Kakashi as the other man opened and closed his mouth, "You're…you're playing dumb…Right?" He sounded awfully hopeful.

One eyebrow arched upwards, "Kakashi-san. It is Oh-dark-thirty (see A/N). I just woke up to a former Anbu jounin leaning over me while I slept. Do you really believe that I managed to formulate a cunning lie in between leaping out of bed and checking to make sure that I managed to put on pajama pants before I went to sleep last night?"

"Ah, well…" Kakashi eased his way off the bed, trying not to think about how familiar this room was, despite the fact that he'd never been there before. "I…uh…"

"You want to explain why you've seen me bathing?" Iruka intentionally used the same tone of voice he used on his students when he knew they were misbehaving. To this point, there hadn't been a single one who'd managed to resist.

"Not really." Kakashi tried a disarming smile. "In fact, I think I should probably just go home." The jounin stepped back quickly and disappeared in the cloud of smoke.

"You..!" Iruka shouted at the empty spot in his bedroom before dropping back onto the bed and wondering when how his normal Saturday night had been so thoroughly de-railed.

OOOOOOOO

"Why are we meeting all the way out here, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto raced ahead of the other two members of team 7. The wide, grassy field stretched for a mile or so in each direction, a rarity in the deep woods that surrounded Konoha, and was cut by a clear, deep river.

"I thought that we all needed to experience the beautiful tapestry of life." Kakashi folded his arms behind his head as he stretched out on the thick grass. The sentence would have been much more profound if Kioko hadn't chosen that moment to leap onto his chest and attack his face with an enormous tongue that couldn't possibly fit inside her mouth.

"Waaa, she's so cute, isn't she, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura exclaimed.

Kakashi watched his team chase the puppy around, laughing and yelping as Kioko ran full-speed into their legs, barking happily at them.

The truth was that she just couldn't get enough exercise in his apartment, and she needed to come out and wear herself out.

The real truth was that he was afraid of staying near the village.

He didn't want to run into Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei!"

Kakashi choked.

Kioko scrambled to reverse her direction and took off as fast as she possibly could towards the chuunin. Kakashi sat up in time to see Iruka fall backwards onto ground, his arms wrapped around the fuzz ball. Kioko nuzzled his face, licking from chin to hairline. Her tail moved back and forth hard enough to swing her butt from side to side as well.

Iruka laughed out loud and wrestled the puppy back and forth on the ground. "Well, now, I missed you too."

Sakura and Naruto followed the dog over at a much more sedate pace. Naruto looked puzzled, "You know her, Iruka-sensei?"

"Mmm, I had to babysit her when Kakashi-san when he was on his last mission." Iruka tousled her ears back and forth, and Kioko opened her mouth and tried to catch his hands.

"Why are you here, Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked. Their former teacher had never come to any of their training sessions before.

Iruka pushed Kioko gently in her direction. "I actually need to talk to Kakashi-san."

_Crap._

OOOOOOOOOO

A/N: For anyone who has never had to deal with military members or military time. It works on a 24-hour clock, where midnight is 0000, noon is 1200, 6 am is 0600. 'Oh-dark-thirty' is a generalization that means way too early in the morning, usually before the sun comes up.

Hope it was enjoyable!


	3. Understanding or not

Sorry for the long wait folks, couldn't decide where I wanted to go with this. Hope it's enjoyable!

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Morning, Kakashi-san." The mood changed drastically as Iruka transferred his attention from his former students to their jounin sensei, and both Sakura and Naruto took a couple of steps away from Iruka. Despite the overall sunny tone, the chuunin's eyes narrowed and flashed dangerously as he gazed up at Kakashi.

"Ah, good morning, Iruka-san." Kakashi fought down the urge to dive behind his students for self-preservation - he was jounin, for crying out loud, and he was not going to be intimidated by this teacher.

Iruka drew himself up to his full height and planted his hands on his hips. Even though he still had to look up to meet Kakashi's gaze, the jounin suddenly had the urge to sit up straight, pay attention, and start taking notes. He vaguely wondered if Iruka had some kind of blood-line genjutsu that he used on his students and anyone else who happened to annoy him. "I really just want an explanation."

Iruka didn't so much smile as bare his teeth at Kakashi, and the jounin shuddered. This was more on par with the reaction he'd been looking for after he'd foisted Kioko off on the other man – he'd originally been hoping for anger like this simply because it would mean that he'd made Iruka suffer as much as he had – but this time was different. This time he hadn't intended to piss the chuunin off.

A deep, harsh cawing cut off Kakashi just as he started to mutter out something that resembled a reason for his actions.

"Mission! A Mission!!" Kakashi yelped happily, coughed self-consciously and tried again, "I'm sorry, Iruka-san, but we have a mission."

He bent down and scooped Kioko up as she fired past him. She stared blankly at him with her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth and squirmed around as he rolled her over onto her back and dumped her into Iruka's arms.

"Thanks for watching her." He called back over his shoulder as he pushed his team in front of him.

"But, Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura twisted so that she could look at him. "You never report right when the Hokage calls us. Why are we…?"

"Maa, never underestimate the power of surprise, Sakura-chan." Kakashi moved faster, trying to put as much distance between himself and the fuming chuunin as was possible.

"Kakashi!" Iruka shouted at the rapidly retreating back, barely resisting the urge to throw something at the infuriating man. He set Kioko down on the ground, intent on chasing after him; Kakashi was not getting away that easily. The nerve of that jounin – breaking into his house the night before and now tearing off the minute Iruka managed to track him down. Kioko chomped down on the hem of his pants as he tried to move past, pulling back on him. "I don't know how you put up with him." He commented off-handedly to the puppy, who had released his leg in favor of kicking herself in the face while biting and snarling at the offending foot.

OOOOOOOO

"Looks like you're in luck kiddo." Iruka scratched her softly behind the ears, "I've still got some food left over from when I watched you before."

He snagged a box of crackers out of the cupboard as she snarfed down mouthfuls of food, spraying pieces everywhere.

"I don't suppose you could tell me what Kakashi meant, could you." Iruka slouched against the counter. "What he said last night about seeing me bathing…." He sighed deeply and decided it would probably be easier just not to think about it. At some point he was going to corner the other man and get an explanation. He snorted and Kioko looked up at him, her cheeks puffed out with kibble chunks. "Jounin are so weird."

OOOOOOOO

Gentle touches woke him; Iruka purred softly under his breath and leaned into the strong fingers combing through his hair. His mother used to stroke his hair like this whenever he was sick or upset, and even though he hadn't had anyone to do that in a long time, the gesture still made him melt.

The fingers moved down to dig into the shorter hairs at the nape of his neck, and he curled his hand into the dark sheets.

Dark?

Even as he arched into the hands that had moved to the back of his ears, his mind scrambled to make sense of the information – his sheets were off-white, not deep navy like the ones underneath him. Though the room was fairly dark, there was enough ambient light from the streetlights outside and the moon that he could tell the difference between this bed and his own.

The room was wrong too, now that he thought about it, but it was hard to keep his eyes open when those fingers were doing such magical things to the back of his neck.

A deep chuckle issued from behind him, "You're being so good."

Iruka rolled over, "Now just, what the…?"

Two fingers ran lightly up the bridge of his nose, starting at the top of his scar and ending at his hairline and dragging his hair up and out of his eyes.

"Kakashi…san?"

The jounin loomed over him with his long fingers buried in Iruka's hair. The moonlight filtering through the windows glinted off silvery hair, and the blue eye sparkled in soft amusement.

Iruka's heart leapt into his throat as Kakashi continued to stroke his hair. His brain spun frantically – the anger that should have filled him being momentarily overpowered by the deep pounding in his ears.

Anger finally won, and Iruka sat up, flinging the blankets back. He was about to scold the other man for invading his bedroom again– although it wasn't his bedroom, but that was another matter that he would have to deal with later – when he discovered that he was alone in his bed, save for Kioko, who was wedged up against the back of his knees.

Air filled his lungs in short, gasping breaths as he pressed his fingers against his temple. Iruka slowly raked his fingers through his hair, remembering the feeling of Kakashi's hands. The dream had been so realistic.

Kioko barely twitched when he rose and left the bedroom.

Iruka gnawed at the side of his thumb as ran the water in the kitchen, waiting for it to get cold. He almost never had dreams involving other people – or at least involving other people that he knew. HeHH He couldn't even remember the last time that had happened.

And why on earth was it Kakashi? He was still furious with the jounin for invading his privacy, and his inability to get a straight explanation out of the other man was driving him up the wall.

Not to mention that he still didn't understand what Kakashi had meant by seeing him changing, bathing… Was the jounin stalking him?

And what would possess Kakashi to do that?

Seriously, Kakashi was behaving like a child. Just like a kid…

With a crush.

He froze, the water spilling over the top of the glass and onto his hand before shaking his head. "Impossible. There's no way he would…"

Not for someone like him.

But it explained everything. Kakashi's recent strange behavior, his avoidance of Iruka to keep from giving a reason for his actions, the fact that he brought Kioko to Iruka, and the fact that he had brought up that ludicrous argument about teaching strategies in the first place.

Now that he thought back on it, the reason for all of Kakashi's actions could be wrapped up into this nice neat little package.

And then he remembered the alien emotion that had flooded his body when he rolled over and saw Kakashi propped up above him.

No way. The man was infuriating. He was childish. He was… Attractive, his subconscious added helpfully, and Iruka felt the blood race across his face as he remembered the one time he'd encountered Kakashi in the bath houses and had gotten a close-up and personal view at the jounin's physique.

"This can't be happening…" He whispered, pressing one of his hands to his face and tried to calm his hammering heart.

OOOOOOOOO

Iruka shook his head as Kioko splashed along through the rapidly deepening puddles. She'd been practically glued to his hip ever since Kakashi left, and even though he'd told her at least five times that it was raining outside, she'd insisted on coming along by slithering under his feet every time he made a move for the door.

In the end, he'd sprawled face first when she'd leaned heavily against the back of his knee while he'd been trying to put his sandals on, and he'd given up on trying to leave her behind.

She was absolutely soaked at this point. They'd had to walk all the way across town, much farther than he'd expected, because the two closer stores were out of dog food. Kioko sprinted ahead, flopped over and rolled around in a puddle, and he chuckled at her antics, conveniently forgetting that he would have to deal with wet-dog smell permeating his apartment for the next few days.

Kioko sat up sharply, head cocked to one side, and Iruka peered through the downpour, trying to figure out what she was hearing. But before he could stop her, she sprang to her feet and took off.

"Ah, Kioko, wait!" Iruka struggled the enormous bag of dog food higher onto his hip and raced after her. She was heading for Ichiraku, or at least Iruka thought that's where she was going; it was hard to tell in this weather.

Not good. Kioko was basically a vacuum cleaner when it came to food.

He reached the entrance and ducked under the banner, already voicing an apology. "Ah, sorry, I didn't realize she…" He trailed off as he realized that he was face to face with team 7 and their teacher. "Ano…"

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto was off the stool in a heartbeat, actually passing on ramen for a moment so that he could wrap his arms around the chuunin's waist. "You should have seen me on this last mission! It was amazing."

Iruka pet the boy's hair gently, "I'm sure it was."

Kakashi winced as Kioko struggled up into his lap before grabbing hold of the scruff of her neck and hauling her up. He eased his way around, trying to put as much of Sakura in between himself and the other man.

"The next bowl's up, Naruto." The kyuubi boy released Iruka with a happy cry and returned to his seat.

Kakashi buried his face in the bowl of ramen and tried very hard to ignore his surroundings. He could only hope that Iruka would be kind enough to not yell at him in public.

"Mind if I join you?" Iruka leaned over next to him, scratching at the long scar that crossed his face.

"What?" Kakashi couldn't quite swallow the surprised question before it slipped out. "I mean, sure." Was the other man blushing? No, it had to be left over from the cold weather outside.

"Look, Kakashi-san," Iruka snapped the chopsticks and rubbed them together. "I just wanted to apologize for being so snappy the past few days."

He was apologizing. Kakashi was glad that he'd munched down his ramen within moments of getting it, otherwise he might have choked on it. What happened to the seething, dangerous anger?

Kioko picked that moment to step over to Iruka's lap, her back paws remaining in Kakashi's, and her plumed tail waived back and forth in front of his face. She licked Iruka's face happily, and the chuunin smiled brightly as he twisted his face in an attempt to get away from her. "So, Kakashi-san, I…I was wondering if I could buy you dinner at some point as an apology."

Kioko leapt forward and dragged her tongue from chin to hairline, soaking Iruka's face. The chuunin looked completely shocked, and Kakashi couldn't help but laugh. Iruka pulled his sleeve over his hand and smeared the spit off his face before grinning back at him.

"Maaa, I can't say no to a free meal." He couldn't believe that he'd managed to escape the tongue-lashing he was sure would be coming. What had changed since he left?

Had Iruka found out about Kioko's ability?

If he had…Well, Kakashi would just have to be on his guard.

OOOOOOOO

ready... set... massive misunderstanding!

Yeah, sure Iruka, Kakashi's stalking you because he's got a crush on you

And sure Kakashi, Iruka's still just trying to get you back for ambushing him in his room

Thanks for reading!


	4. Explanations

Sorry this took so long; it's been hectic over here. Anyway, 1 chapter after this - enjoy!

OOOOOOOOOO

The chuunin was plotting something; he was sure of it.

Kakashi watched Iruka out of the corner of his eye as the other man poked subconsciously at the meat slowly cooking on the grill in the center of their table. The other man hadn't said more than the necessary polite phrases since they'd met up almost an hour ago, and the silence was starting to get on his nerves.

Hadn't one of his ANBU teachers described an interrogation technique that involved silence? The whole idea had something to do with the fact most human's general dislike of abject silence. The interrogator remained completely silent until the subject finally broke and started talking.

He gave the chuunin another sideways glance. It wasn't possible, was it? This person was just an academy teacher, after all.

Iruka looked up and gave him a small smile, and Kakashi immediately buried his attention in his food.

Iruka shook his head slightly as Kakashi flinched away from meeting his gaze. The jounin had been staring at him all night, or at least whenever he seemed to think Iruka wasn't looking.

Unfortunately for him, Iruka had far too much experience in keeping tabs on the village's mini-shinobi and having to monitor 20+ people who could all have fit under the table without any struggles and were usually plotting his imminent demise had nothing on watching Kakashi steal glances at him.

What did make it a little harder, however, was the fact that his heart slammed against his ribcage every time he caught the other man's eyes on him.

_This is ridiculous!_ He mentally slapped himself.

But he still couldn't shake the stupid feelings. There was something incredibly intoxicating about having someone lust over him like that.

OOOOOOOOO

"Thanks for the food."

"Ah, no problem, Kakashi-sensei. I still feel bad for yelling at you earlier." Iruka's face flushed as he turned his gaze away from the silver-haired jounin. "Ano…I…uh…I figured we'd swing by my house, and you can pick up Kioko."

Kakashi made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat, and purposely moved behind Iruka when they reached his door. If the chuunin had set anything up, he was going to have to take the brunt of it before it reached Kakashi.

Kioko pounced within seconds of the door swinging open, knocking Iruka back into Kakashi's arms and tumbling all three of them onto the floor.

When the disorientation cleared, Kakashi swore violently under his breath. Kioko must have been sending memories again because he was sprawled out under his comforter and spooned tightly up against Iruka's back.

"Kioko!" Kakashi snarled the pup's name out and choked down a shout of pain as Iruka's head snapped up and bashed square into his nose.

"Ah!" Iruka fell forward, clutching at the back of his head. "W-wha…?" He was staring at the sheets tangled around his body. "Why am I…?"

Kakashi carefully unwound his hands from Iruka's waist and pressed them together to form a teleportation seal, barely daring to breathe.

Nothing happened. _Shit._

He supposed he should have figured it wouldn't work – that would be all together too convenient.

"Kakashi…san? Weren't we just in the doorway? How did we get into…? This isn't my bedroom! Wha…what did you do to me?!"

"What do you mean 'what did I do to you?!' I didn't do anything to you! This is Kioko's doing. It's her memory!"

"…what?"

"You don't expect me to believe that you don't know about this, do you? She can't talk, so she shares memories to communicate. Honestly, when she's with me, I'm subjected to memories of you every single time she touches me. If I'd known she was going to do this, I never would have left her with you in the first place, particularly since it was only to get back at you for what you put me through after that teaching incident. I can think of a lot more ways I could have gotten you back that wouldn't have backfired on me. "

"I-I…I didn't know…."

Kakashi's mouth snapped closed. Iruka was blushing furiously, the anger and confusion in his voice giving way to something else.

"I…oh." Iruka's shoulders dropped, one word rolling around in his mind. _Subjected_.

Kakashi's bedroom disintegrated around them, and Iruka scrambled off of him, scooping the wiggling, shaggy puppy up into his arms and depositing her as gently as he could at Kakashi's feet.

As soon as the door shut between him and the other man, Iruka pressed his back against the solid wood and slid slowly to the floor. How could he have been so stupid to think that one of the village's elite jounin actually…?

_Moron!_

The whole time – the entire time – from the point where Kakashi had dropped Kioko off in his class to his appearance in the chuunin's bedroom to the dinner tonight, Kakashi had just been trying to set him up or get him back or figure out how Iruka was planning on getting him back.

Iruka was really nothing more than a target.

The worst part was, that even though the dream that had started his train of thought had been nothing more than one of Kioko's memories, Iruka was starting to feel some sort of attraction to the silver-haired jounin.

Even the shock of Kakashi's explanation hadn't shaken those feelings loose.

OOOOOOOOO

Kioko dropped to her haunches outside Iruka's door, looked over her shoulder and whined at Kakashi.

"I still don't understand why you were so insistent about sending memories of him." Kakashi muttered at her.

"She missed me, you idiot!" Iruka yelled through the door.

Clearly he hadn't muttered quite quietly enough.

"She's a puppy. She's like a little kid. When kids miss someone, they cry that person's name, they talk about that person all the time, they…" He heard Iruka let out an explosive sigh. "She missed me, and she was trying to let you know. That's. All."

With a final huff, Kioko rose up on her hind legs and scratched at the door handle.

Kakashi scrubbed his hand across his face and crossed the narrow balcony. He wasn't entirely sure why Iruka's demeanor had changed so violently in the last few minutes, but after a moment's hesitation, he raised his hand and knocked.

"What?" The snap in Iruka's voice suggested that the chuunin had just about reached the end of his short rope.

"Maa, well…" Kakashi looked down at Kioko, who promptly folded her ears back and looked as plaintive as she could possibly manage. "She's here with me for another week and a half before the pack takes her back. I was wondering, since she's so attached to you…"

Kioko's tail smacked up and down, beating out a tattoo on the worn floor.

"If you wanted to keep her until then." He finished rather lamely, and the very end was somewhat drowned out by Kioko's happy bark.

Iruka dropped his head back against the doorframe and pushed stray locks of hair out of his eyes. He'd grown strangely accustomed to Kioko's volatile presence in his house and had missed her every time Kakashi came to take her home. Besides, if Kioko stayed with him, Kakashi wouldn't have to suffer through constant memories of him.

"Alright." He hauled himself to his feet and pulled the door open, stepping quickly out of the way as Kioko rushed in and immediately tripped him up as she got under his feet. Kakashi opened his mouth to say something, but the door swung shut in his face.

OOOOOO

Something smelled delicious.

Kakashi rubbed his face across his forearm as his desire for sleep warred with the intoxicating smells coming from somewhere else in his house. The deep growl from his stomach suggested that particular part of his anatomy was siding with his nose, so he gave in without much more of a fight and rolled off the couch.

He padded barefoot down the hall, idly pushing his sleeves back up to his elbows. "Iruka-sensei?"

The chuunin's back was turned towards him, but he was clearly stirring something on the stove, and Kakashi would have bet money that the pot on the stove was the source of the wonderful smell. Iruka had shed his hitai-ate and vest as well as the wrappings on his legs. He looked remarkably comfortable – and different – in the dark shirt and pants from his uniform.

The other man stopped stirring momentarily and ran his hand back over his ponytail before lacing his fingers together and stretching towards the ceiling.

Kioko.

Kakashi's brain finally connected through the haze of just waking up. This had to be one of Kioko's memories.

His elbow cracked sharply on the edge of his coffee table as he tumbled off the couch. Kakashi scratched at his hairline, trying to put his thoughts back together. He'd settled down on his couch after leaving Kioko with Iruka and, judging from the massive kink in his neck, had spent the entire night on the lumpy, pseudo-torture device.

Wait.

He'd left Kioko with Iruka, hadn't he?

A quick check of the room confirmed that she was nowhere to be found. So, what was that?

Had he really just had a dream about Iruka cooking?

His photographic memory helpfully inserted an image of the small sliver of skin Iruka's stretch had exposed between the hem of his shirt and his waistband, followed closely by Kioko's original memory of Iruka naked in the bath. He sat down hard on the couch.

_What the hell is going on? _

OOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	5. End

Last chapter ^^ Enjoy!

OOOOOOOOOO

Kioko was gone, but the dreams persisted. Kakashi flopped onto the couch and scrubbed his hand across his face. His brain's subconscious focus on the chuunin was inexplicable but he couldn't seem to get past the other man.

Iruka was…infuriating.

That was the one thing Kakashi was certain of.

The conversation and encounter that had started this whole mess was just one incident in a long chain of animosity between the two of them. Only a few days before the kunai throwing practice that had gone so terribly wrong, Iruka had whipped Kakashi's copy of Icha Icha out of his hands when the jounin and his team had approached the mission desk and had smacked him across the back of the head with it.

The chuunin had started scolding him for reading such 'filth' in front of the kids even before the book connected with his skull.

Iruka was uptight.

And a prude.

And a vindictive pain-in-the-ass if he wanted to be.

Kakashi still had some fading bruises from his practice with Iruka's class.

He squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head back onto the cushions. An image of his current, unwelcome obsession rose unbidden in his mind's eye, and, as he tried to force it away, his brain ground to a screeching halt.

The memory was of Iruka holding Kioko in his arms and smiling softly down at the furry puppy. He'd seen that same expression on Iruka's face when he listened to Naruto expound on his conquests as a ninja.

Kakashi knew that look. The last time that kind of look had been turned in his direction was back when Rin was still alive.

Lustful expressions, yes. He'd even been propositioned several times, but he figured that most people just wanted to see what was under his mask.

But pride? Love? Not for years.

Kakashi's eyes flew open.

He wanted Iruka to look at him like that.

It was so incredibly bizarre that it was Iruka specifically, despite a large number of available people in his near vicinity. He supposed that it was simply that Iruka was one of the few adults he interacted with on a regular basis – regardless of how juvenile their interactions were. Unfortunately for him, Iruka seemed like the singularly worst person his brain could have settled on for a fixation.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto practically vaulted over the mission desk to reach the chuunin.

"Morning, Naruto-kun. Returning from a mission?"

"Yup, and it was a big success!" Kakashi saw Sakura roll her eyes behind Naruto.

"And so you have a mission report?" Iruka grinned at him.

"Kakashi-sensei has that."

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as Iruka transferred his attention from his former student to the jounin slouching behind him. "May I have the report please, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi barely hid a wince. Iruka hadn't yelled, but the calm, emotionless voice was almost worse. "Maa, here." He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. "So, how's Kioko?"

"Fine." Iruka blatantly turned his shoulder towards the jounin. "Looking forward to a new mission, guys?"

Kakashi slunk backwards as his team chatted happily with their former sensei. Iruka hated him. Really hated him.

Shit.

OOOOOOOOOO

Iruka stretched his legs out under the desk, careful to avoid the sleeping pile of fur curled up on the far side. He couldn't help but smile as she rolled over onto her back and sneezed several times in succession. "I can't believe that it's only going to be two more days."

Kioko immediately leapt to her feet and put both paws in his lap, panting happily at him.

"It's going to be lonely without you, kiddo." He ruffled her ears fondly.

Kakashi leaned against the window, pulling back just far enough that Iruka couldn't see him. Iruka's feelings towards him had been so obviously shoved in his face that he wanted to demolish his fixation and had hoped that by, following Iruka around, he might see something that would turn him off of the chuunin. Instead he had seen this.

Kioko was really the biggest link between them. If she went back to the pack, Kakashi would still see her on a regular basis, and if her behavior when she was away from Iruka, he would be tormented with memories of the chuunin. He stepped away from the building, pressed his hands together to form a seal, and vanished.

It was time to torch the bridges between them.

OOOOOOOOOO

His tentative knock went unanswered for long enough that he'd turned away by the time Iruka opened the door.

"Ah, Kakashi-san, can I help…?"

Any words that Kakashi'd manage to prepare died on his tongue at the far-too-neutral look on Iruka's face.

The chuunin's eyebrow arched upwards after a long moment of silence. "Would you like to come in?"

"Maa…that…yes."

Kioko rose onto her back legs the minute she saw him and planted her paws on his stomach. She'd grown a huge amount since Kakashi'd last seen her, and she looked like she was going to reach 80 pounds before she finished.

"Here to pick her up?"

"No. Yes." Kakashi took a deep breath and met Iruka's gaze. "Maybe. Pakkun and I talked to the pack leader, and, if you want, you can keep her."

Iruka's eyes widened.

"Permanently."

"You better not be joking, Kakashi-san." Iruka's voice darkened.

"She's very attached to you, as you pointed out, and the pack has been meaning to expand to different families…." Kakashi trailed off as Iruka bent to tousle Kioko's fur. "Oh, and the leader says 'happy birthday,' by the way."

Iruka's head whipped around to focus on him again. "How..?"

Kakashi gave a vague shrug. "Naruto was talking about it." He looked around. "Actually, I'm kind of surprised he isn't here."

"Well, after this long; it'd be kind of strange to not be alone." Iruka laughed self-consciously. "Sorry, that's kind of odd, isn't it?"

_Strange?_ Kakashi wanted to shake him. How many times had Kurenai and Asuma tried to drag him out whenever he wasn't on a mission or training with his students? He'd gone once and had felt so incredibly awkward that he'd come up with excuses even more random than the ones he used for being late. Of course, being more comfortable alone did not make it any less lonely. "Iru…"

Something started beeping deeper in the apartment, and Iruka jumped. "I need to get that." As he started down the hall, he called back over his shoulder. "Thank you for letting me keep Kioko."

Kakashi paused and then trailed after the chuunin. "Iruka-san, for what it's worth, I'm sorry for all of this."

"Heh. If you hadn't done what you did, I never would have met Kioko." Iruka smiled softly at him. "You have nothing to apologize for. Well, except maybe being a downright jerk about my teaching methods. And probably scarring poor Tsuki for life."

"In my defense, I didn't expect her to hit you."

"Haven't taught many pre-genin's have you?"

"Well…." Kakashi waved his hands around in front of himself. "I've had at least three. Memories, you know, get fuzzier the farther down the road of life I venture."

A look of blank disbelief crossed Iruka's face for a long moment before he pressed a hand to his mouth and chuckled. "Remind me to believe Naruto the next time he tells me a story about you."

Kakashi felt the color rush to his cheeks and was instantly glad for the shadows in the hallway and the dark cloth covering the majority of his face. Iruka looked so completely different when he smiled. "I, uh, you having any luck communicating with Kioko?"

_Congratulations, Kakashi, you've officially perfected the use of a crowbar to change the topic._

"Actually, it's not too bad as long as she keeps the memories short and specific." Iruka stepped over a braided, well-worn rope that was discarded in the center of the floor. "Oh, did you know that Kioko can transfer memories to inanimate objects? I picked up that squeaky toy yesterday, and I can still taste it."

"Inanimate…" He stepped into the kitchen and fell silent. This smell. He knew this smell. "Did you make this while Kioko was here? I mean, before I took her back the first time?"

"Probably. It's kind of a staple. Why?"

Kioko must have left that damn memory in his couch. Several weeks ago, he would have been furious. He would have chalked it up to some scheme Iruka was using to get back at him. But whether Kioko had planted the memory was irrelevant now, something was drawing him to Iruka. Even if Kioko's memories may have been the catalyst, his couldn't deny his own reactions.

"…and she can transfer emotions." Iruka didn't seem to notice his little diversion or the fact that he hadn't answered his question.

"What?"

"Yeah, Naruto was over a couple of days ago, and after he left, Kioko decided to take over my lap while I was grading." Iruka switched the rice cooker off and upended the contents onto a large plate. "I swear, I was on the verge of killing someone for ramen."

Kakashi chuckled, and Kioko chose that moment to scamper around the island in the center of the kitchen, banked off the back of Iruka's calves and fired directly into Kakashi's chest, knocking him over.

"Kioko! Iruka scolded sharply.

An overwhelming feeling of solitude enveloped him.

When the darkness lifted, he met Iruka's gaze. The chuunin was seated on the floor, his arm draped over the oven door, and had a look of infinite sadness plastered across his face. Kakashi recognized that emotion; it filled him everytime he stood at the memorial stone. Kioko sat halfway in between them, her tail thumping back and forth against the linoleum.

"Iruka, I…" Kakashi started.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Iruka offered in the same breath.

OOOOOOOO

A series of happy barks broke the crisp morning air as Kioko flounced through the gathering snow.

"I really don't see the fascination in it!"

"Maa, you're the person who claimed that you made it all the time."

"Yes, in the summer, when we could get the vegetables." Iruka shook his head. "Why are you so set on having it?"

"It's your fault."

"How could it possibly be my fault?"

"You wouldn't let me stay last night!"

"Er." Iruka blinked, feeling rather stupid. "And, so that has to do with this, how?"

"I had to sleep on the couch and Kioko's memory's still there! I was smelling it all night! Well…most of the night."

"You didn't have to sleep on the couch…What? Most of the night?"

"Maa, I, uh, you know how you can influence the memories? I may – or may not – have done something to stop you from cooking. Or not."

"Kakashi!"

"What?" He laughed as Iruka put a hand on his shoulder and shoved.

Outsiders would have taken Iruka's expression as overt irritation, but Kakashi caught him glance back and offer a brief, soft smile.

OOOOOOO

Fin

Thanks so much for reading and I hope the story was enjoyable.


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